New York Man Charged In 1996 Murder Case

Suspect Also Facing Assault Of 15-year-old

LITCHFIELD — For at least a year police have known that Anthony Rivera was someone worth talking to about a brutal Barkhamsted homicide.

On Wednesday, a day after Rivera was extradited from New York City, state police charged him with killing Audrey Lover and torching her house 22 months ago.

Rivera, 28, was held in lieu of $1,075,000 bail for the murder charge and an unrelated year-old sexual assault charge in Torrington. He is due back in Litchfield Superior Court Aug. 18.

Friends of Lover and relatives of the girl were in the courtroom Wednesday. Dressed in a green shirt and khaki pants, Rivera said nothing during his arraignment before Bantam Superior Court Judge Barbara J. Sheedy.

In the sexual assault case, he is accused of having sex with a 15- year-old girl in July 1997. The girl's mother complained to police.

Pam Balsamo said Rivera's arrest is another step in the healing process for Lover's friends and family. ``It's the beginning of having it over with and maybe she can be put to rest,'' Balsamo said.

What remains unclear, however, is how Rivera and Lover knew each other. The only information available Wednesday was that Rivera knew Lover's daughter Jennifer Cosseboom, authorities and Lover's friends said. Cosseboom could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

``Everybody knew Tony,'' Balsamo said.

But Cosseboom's father, Ralph Cosseboom, said Rivera was not an acquaintance of the family.

It ``must have been a random thing,'' he said Wednesday from his home in New Hampshire.

Lover's body was found by firefighters at her W. West Hill Road home on the morning of Oct. 17, 1996 -- three days after her 50th birthday. She had been strangled, a subsequent autopsy showed. Fire officials said the fire was set to cover up evidence of the killing.

Detectives interviewed more than 200 people and devoted more than 1,000 hours to the investigation into Lover's death. Rivera's name emerged at least a year ago, but police were unable to find him.

Three months ago, he was picked up in New York City and was held at the Riker's Island jail until his extradition to Connecticut Tuesday.

Rivera is charged with murder, felony murder, second-degree arson, first-degree burglary and tampering with evidence. He faces charges of second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor in the Torrington case.

Rivera, who lived with his parents in the Bronx, N.Y., worked as a part-time computer programmer for H&R Block. He has no criminal record in Connecticut, but has a criminal record for forgery in Illinois, grand theft in Idaho and armed burglary in Florida.

Prosecutors and police declined to provide further details of the crime. Rivera's arrest warrant was ordered sealed because the investigation is continuing, Assistant State's Attorney Andrew Wittstein said.

Ralph Cosseboom, Lover's ex-husband and the father of Lover's two daughters, said the family was ``elated'' to learn of the arrest.

Ralph Cosseboom said he hoped that his daughters, DeLorie, 22, and Jennifer, 19, can ``put it behind them now.''

``This is kind of screwing them up now, but I think they'll be all right,'' he said.

Lover worked as a benefits analyst for the Hartford Insurance Group. The house, where she lived alone, has since been demolished.

News of the homicide unsettled the quiet town and left residents anxious for the case to be solved.

Linda Longo last saw her close friend the day before her death. Lover had stopped by Longo's house to thank her for the 50th birthday party Longo and others had thrown for her two days earlier.

Longo said a state police investigator called her early Wednesday to tell her about the arrest. ``I am thrilled,'' she said

``I was just telling my husband, jeez, it's going to be two years in October,'' added Lover's friend and neighbor Linda Buehler.

Buehler said that many times she has wondered who killed Lover and why. She said she often talks with friends about the killing.

``I think it will put a lot of people's minds at ease here,'' Buehler said of the arrest, ``but we do miss her dearly.''

``It's always been a part of everybody's life. We've always hoped that there would be a conclusion,'' another neighbor, Janet Sandelli, said. ``We wanted to see somebody brought to justice.''